Friday, July 17, 2015

Morning after going to Bullwinkles Family Fun Center we headed out with Ms Kim and her kiddos to use our Kids Bowl Free Coupons we had gotten earlier in the summer. This is the second time I've used mine. Of course as the name goes Kids Bowl Free...with the exception of the shoe rental which is $2.25, but if the parents want to bowl they can buy a pass. It was $10 per parent with the type of pass Kim, Christina and I got. Since I've gone 2 times now it's already paid for itself.

The last time I went with Christina and her kids I learned some valuable lessons and implemented them this time around. First off we got to the bowling alley as close to 10am as we could. We had a snack in the van on the way there and talked about how we weren't going to get any candy, food or drinks. The day before I had taken the kids to The Dollar Tree to spend one of their dollars on a treat they could enjoy after we were finished bowling. The other thing I did differently is I didn't bring the neighbor kids. This made a huge difference in regards to my kids attitudes. The neighbor boys are used to getting whatever they want when they want it and that attitude rubbed off onto my kids last time and it was maddening. Also there can only be 6 people on one lane and if they both came then I wouldn't get to play and have fun with my kids on our lane. I could have been added on to Kim's lane, but I just didn't want to do that.

Just like last time I had each of the kids pay for their own shoes...even Zeke. I'm the one driving them and packing up all the stuff for us to have a fun day so they need to take some of the responsibility for their day of fun as well.

Side Note: Owen lost a school library book this year. They wouldn't release his report card until we either replaced the book, or paid for the book. We looked EVERYWHERE....TWICE at least! No such luck! The book cost $18 to replace. I even called Half Price Books..I looked at Amazon...I went to Barnes & Noble. No one carried this book or they couldn't ship it to me in time or it was going to cost $18 so I just bit the bullet and paid for the book. We had talked with Owen about how this was his responsibility to put that book back in the library basket so he wouldn't lose it and how it was now his responsibility to pay for it. Of course he didn't have $18 so I paid the school and then he had to pay me back. He did have $12 so he paid me that and then we drew up a Loan Certificate for the remaining $6. We made up a payment schedule and we added interest. I paid for the book on June 15th so he had until July 15th to pay me $6.60....10% interest. If he didn't pay me then it went up by another .60 and then another and so on. A week or so before we went bowling Owen was able to pay me $4, but he still owed $2.60 and I told him about bowling and how he had to pay me first before he saved up money for the shoes and the treat from The Dollar Tree...of course I gave him the option of just watching us all bowl too. This motivated him so much! I've never seen him work so hard and ask for jobs to do. He was doing 3 or more jobs a day to earn that money so he could bowl and get candy. He even mowed the whole backyard with an old fashion push mower and never complained once! This is not my kid!! I am SO proud of him! He was able to pay off his debt and he earned enough money for shoes and candy and I think he still had a bit left off. Proud parenting moment!

Unlike last time where we had one lane without bumpers for the bigger kids this time we just went for all bumpers.

Happy dance!

Cute Caitlynn...I think she enjoyed hanging from the bowling ball holder/slide thing the kids use to push their balls from just as much as she enjoyed bowling itself!

Josiah hanging on to his ball I presume...the kids all got pretty attached to their balls. We had to remind them that if they weren't actually bowling with their ball someone else could use it.

Zeke did great....he didn't want to push his ball, but once I told him he could run and push it he liked that!

Of course Ella chose a pink ball!

Perfect shot!!!

Zeke enjoyed picking a different colored ball for each roll!

At the end of the first game I won with 130...the next game the kids creamed me. My hands are usually only good for one game. After our second game we put all the balls away, gave back all the shoe rentals and then headed out. Ms Kim took her kiddos on home for resting time and the kids and I headed off to our next adventure!

About Me

I've been happily married to my husband Michael for 18 years. We have a 10year old son - Owen & 9 year old son - Jack & a 7 year old daughter - Ella &amp and a 5 year old son - Zeke. I have the pleasure of staying home and taking care of them. Life is busy, but life is sweet!